N&O investigation prompts Raleigh mayor to help families leave high-crime motels

Families living in Raleigh’s high-crime budget hotels may soon be able to draw from a “compassion fund” to move into rental housing.

Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin has proposed a $25,000 seed fund to help families in motels cover a security deposit and first month’s rent.

Data from the census and Wake County Public Schools show the number of families living in motels is increasing. The number of Wake County students in motels jumped from 286 in 2014-15 to 929 in 2018-19.

“It breaks my heart to think that people are living in hotels and paying very high rates monthly because they cannot afford to pull together the payments necessary,” Baldwin said at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

A January investigation into the most dangerous hotels in Raleigh by The News & Observer drew Baldwin’s attention to the families living there.

“One thing that really spoke to me was the woman who was living in a hotel with her family,” Baldwin said about Crystal Bagwell, a resident at one of the motels The N&O investigated. “She lost her job, was on disability and obviously could afford to pay the daily rate, but couldn’t afford to muster up the first month’s rent or a security deposit.”

Baldwin hopes the fund will grow with private contributions and wants a fast-responding nonprofit organization to manage it. It should not be government-driven and bureaucratic, she said.

Baldwin said she and city staff are still working out the details. She hopes for the initiative to take shape over the next month.

Advocates agree money is one of many barriers people who are forced to live in hotels face.

Landlords requiring credit checks, background checks and a monthly income of three times the rent leave many people with little choice but hotels, said Lisa Rowe, executive director at Families Together. “People have proven that they can pay the rent by keeping a motel roof over their head, but you have to make 3.3 times the rent to even be considered.”

Families Together is an organization in Raleigh that helps move families into permanent housing.

Kim Baker said she had no choice but to stay in a dangerous motel with her children because she broke her lease before she was supposed to in the past.

“Hotels don’t care about credit checks and backgrounds,” she said.

Baker previously told The N&O she tried to hide the situation from her children by saying they were on vacation.

Through Families Together, Baker said she was able to repair her credit and receive financial education. It also paid her security deposit and first and last months’ rent, putting her on track to buying a house.

Rowe believes providing landlords incentives to host people despite low credit ratings and criminal backgrounds could help people living in hotels. “Maybe a fund for landlords so they are assured they won’t lose money,” she said

While Baldwin is trying to get families out of motels, she says the Raleigh Police Department has been working with the motel owners to improve conditions. “We want to wait and see if they are cooperative and effective in doing that,” she said.

“A lot of people need help, and this is a tiny first step in making it happen,” she said.